Database Management System for Tracking Real-World Asset Transfers

ABSTRACT

A system and method of processing, within a single procedure, cash equivalents and fix assets from any disposition class. The method includes identifying the benefactor and asset to be donation. Once identified, the asset is classified into one of three disposition classes. The disposition classes are used to determine the value for valuing. Once the value is determined, an impact statement is generated. Depending on the disposition class, the item is either converted to funds directly or through an intermediary. Once the item is converted to funds, the funds are transferred to the identified benefactor.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/936,285 filed on Nov. 9, 2015 and entitled“Liquidation System for Cash and Fixed-Asset Donations,” which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/751,554filed on Jun. 26, 2015 and entitled “Discerning Cash and Fixed AssetDonations,” which claims priority to Provisional Application Ser. No.62/017,989 filed on Jun. 27, 2014 and entitled “Discerning Cash andFixed Asset Donations,” the entire disclosures of which are all herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety. This present application isalso a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/874,792 filed on May 1, 2013 and entitled “Bid-Based CharitableImpact Statement,” the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporatedby reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The embodiments describe herein relate to systems and methods forprocessing a variety of types of donations involving real-world assettransfers within a single unified system.

BACKGROUND

Unified Class. Systems and inventions in the prior art focus on thecollection and processing of a unified class of assets. For example,there is a substantial body of art related to the donation of lifeinsurance policies to institutions. While the exact terms of the donatedinsurance policies will vary widely, and unpredictably, the systems areable to uniformly handle the entire asset class. They do not present orhandle other types of assets such as business ownership or motorizedvehicles.

Alternative cash donation option. An alternative for processing fixedassets and cash is to provide a would-be buyer the option of skippingthe fixed asset purchase and instead provide a cash contribution to thecharity the buyer had selected. In this system, the buyer goes to aclassified or auction online site and conducts a search. The searchleads the buyer to a list of items meeting the search requirements.Those search requirements may include the name of a charity the buyerhas selected. If the buyer decides to purchase an item, a portion of thesale is given to the charity. The funds either originate from the buyeror the website's transaction manager. If the buyer is unable to findsomething to purchase, an item's description gives the buyer the optionto make a cash contribution to the charity listed in their original itemsearch. The somewhat improbable business model is to turn funds ashopper planned to use for a specific purpose into an unplanneddonation.

Non-cash assets are all treated identically. These systems make littleattempt to identify the asset class. The system is unable to value theitem and relies on the honor system for tax reporting. The finalcollection of fixed assets is completed manually. While these types ofsystems are known in the industry, their relative lack of sophisticationmakes full automation impossible.

Multiple systems. Processing institutional gifting of both cash andfixed assets currently requires a combination of an ATM, retailpoint-of-sale system, title management software, and logistics planningsystems. Integrating these systems if often limited by outside concerns,such as discussed in the next section, but the necessary complexity in adiverse asset donation system limits the scope of the practicalfunctionality.

Multiple entities. In addition to requiring multiple systems, currententities that accept both cash and fixed assets have separate legalentities to handle the charitable funds and the non-charitable fundsfrom sale of asset. Since not the all funds from the sale of the assetare for a charitable institution, the sale must also involve afor-profit legal entity. Cash would be distributed to one charitableentity and the funds for the sale of assets are distributed through afor-profit and then to the seller. For instance, at eBay, the entirefund from the sale of the asset is distributed back to the sellerthrough their for-profit PayPal. The seller then later receives a noticethat they need to transfer a portion of those funds to the charitableinstitution. This second transfer is executed through an independentnonprofit organization associated with eBay. The result is a complex setof separate systems and institutions.

The embodiments described below addresses these abating factors.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments below are directed to systems and methods to convert alldonated assets to transferable funds before presentation of the donationto the charity.

Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the described embodimentsare:

-   -   a) to provide donors with one site to handle any type of        preferred donation;    -   b) to provide donors with one site to donate to multiple        charities;    -   c) to provide donors with a list of additional suggested asset        from different asset classes;    -   d) to provide a cash conversion donation of a physical asset;    -   e) to provide a cash conversion, in a single system, for any        type of asset; and    -   f) to provide liquidators access to only items they wish to        broker;    -   g) to provide an impact statement based on a specific item        description;    -   h) to provide an impact statement immediately after entry of the        asset description;    -   i) to provide accurate impact statements based on a bid on an        asset;    -   j) to provide dynamic asset pricing of bids;    -   k) to provide accurate impact statements using an item        description;    -   l) to provide the best bid from multiple liquidators to maximize        the donation impact;    -   m) to provide a specific item description using a typed        description;    -   n) to provide a specific item description using a series of        hierarchal selections;    -   o) to provide a specific item description using the input of an        identification code associated with a specific asset.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparentfrom a consideration of the drawings and the ensuing description of thedrawings

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate the embodiments and together withthe corresponding description.

FIG. 1A illustrates a process that takes place in an integrated databasesystem that converts cash and fixed assets into settled funds.

FIG. 1B illustrates the process of the integrated database system ofFIG. 1A specifically highlighting the process for handling cashequivalents. For comparison, inapplicable steps for handling other assetclasses have been removed.

FIG. 1C illustrates the process of the integrated database system ofFIG. 1A specifically highlighting the process for handling brokeredfixed assets. For comparison, inapplicable steps for handling otherasset classes have been removed.

FIG. 1D illustrates the process of the integrated database system ofFIG. 1A specifically highlighting the process for handling leadgeneration fixed assets. For comparison, inapplicable steps for handingother asset classes have been removed.

FIG. 1E illustrates expanded features of the process of the integrateddatabase system shown in FIG. 1A specifically directed to communicationwith parties to the donation.

FIG. 2 illustrates a process for classifying an item to determine aparticular processing path within the integrated database system.

FIG. 3A illustrates the data movement between the donor systems,liquidator systems, and the charity systems.

FIG. 3B illustrates various methods for entering and matching the assetdescription.

FIG. 3C illustrates the communications and asset exchanges between thedonor, liquidator and charity.

FIG. 3D illustrates the use of the invention when the charity acts asthe intermediary between the donor and the liquidators.

FIG. 3E illustrates a system embodiment being used with a third-partyprovider facilitating the communication and movement of assets betweenthe donor, liquidator, and charity.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example computer system that may be used to carryout the integrated donation system.

FIG. 5 illustrates example interactions between donor, benefactor, andintegrated donation computer systems.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to the drawings, in which like numerals represent likeelements,

FIG. 1A illustrates a process 100 that takes place in an integrateddatabase system that tracks real-world assets at these assets areconverted into settled funds for donation. The process may be performedfrom the perspective of a donor/user that is identified to the system bya donor ID. First, in step 102, the donor selects a benefactor. Thebenefactor may be any type of nonprofit entity including a charity,cause, public institution, government entity, fund, individual, privateentity, account, or crowdfunding campaign. The benefactor may beselected from a list of predefined benefactors or entered manually buythe donor.

Once the benefactor is selected, the donor must then identify the itemthey wish to donate in step 104. The item may be any type of tangible orintangible asset such as electronic items, cash equivalents,professional service, insurance, or a business ownership. The item isidentified to the system via any number of user input methods such as,for example, keying an alphanumeric description, keying an itemdescription with predictive text provided by the system, keying a searchinto the system and selecting from the results, scanning a barcode,selecting from a series of hierarchical drop down boxes, graphicalcontrols, image capture, motion detection, multimodal interaction,electronic pen, touch input, speech synthesis, face input, voice entry,electroencephalography systems, or any combination of the above. Theitem may be identified by comparing the description against a productdatabase of predefined products where each predefined product isassociated with a product database record that includes at least aunique product identifier. Upon determining the product record thatcorresponds to the item description, the system may associate the itemdescription with the unique product identifier.

In some examples, selecting a benefactor in step 102 and identifying anitem in step 104 are performed by a user accessing a user interface of adonor computer system (e.g., a desktop, laptop, mobile device, and soforth). The donor system may, for example, display a web interface orother interface that provides the user with the options that may beselected. For example, the interface may be provided by a website,embedded code within a website, or application software that causes thedonor computer system to perform the selection and/or identificationtasks. In some examples, the system receives the selections andidentifications from the donor at a backend server system. The backendserver may receive the selections and identifications via a networkconnection. For example, the donor computer system may connect to thebackend server via the network connection and utilize one or moreapplication programming interfaces (APIs) provided by the backend serverto communicate with the backend server. In some examples, the backendserver is configured as a web server and/or database server thatreceives information from the donor computer system using the APIs.

Once the donor selects the benefactor and identifies the item to thesystem, the system (e.g., at a backend server) uses the identificationof the item or the unique product identifier to create an item recordfor the item. The item record includes at least the item description andthe unique product identifier. The item record may then be stored in anitem tracking database so that the item can be tracked through thesystem as it is converted to settled funds. The item record may alsoinclude the item's disposition class which is determined in step 106.The disposition class may be based on item description stored in thecorresponding product database record. The disposition class may also bederived by the system using one or more keywords from the itemdescription. For example, the one or more keywords may be matched withstored descriptions to identify stored descriptions that are similar,and classify the item description to match the one or more similarstored descriptions. In that case, the item description may be new tothe system whereby a new product record may be create in the databaseand a unique product identifier included in the product record.Additionally, the donor may supply a classification with the itemidentification that will be used as the item's classification, which thesystem could then verify against a corresponding item description.Disposition classes include cash equivalents 108, brokered fixed assets110, and lead generation fixed assets 112. Examples of assets in eachclass are described in detail below in reference to FIG. 2. An item'sdisposition class determines, among other thing, the processing paththat it will take through the system in order to be converted to settledfunds. Each specific path is described for each class in more detail inreference to FIGS. 1B-D.

The donor system associates a plurality of tracking identifiers with theitem record. For example, the backend server may associate the followingtracking identifiers with the item using one or more databases: itemdescription, campaign, designation, frequency, schedule, trackingnumber, organization, unique transaction identifier, status, and soforth.

-   -   The item description includes keywords that describe the item.        For example, if the item is a car, the item description may        include the manufacturer, make, model, model year, mileage, and        so forth.    -   The campaign identifier allows the item record to be associated        with a particular campaign. For example, an item record may be        assigned to a particular campaign, such that the donation is        associated with and aggregated with other item records that are        assigned to that campaign.    -   The designation identifier may be used to specify a particular        benefactor (e.g., charity) to receive the proceeds of converting        the item to settled funds.    -   The frequency identifier may be used to specify a frequency of a        donation of the item and the schedule identifier may indicate        re-occurring donations of the same item or type of item. For        example, an item that is a cash equivalent may specify in the        item's record that the donation is to re-occur on a bi-weekly,        monthly, or yearly basis according to a particular schedule. The        re-occurring donations corresponding to the item may share the        same schedule identifier, which associates the re-occurring        donations with the same item or type of item.    -   The tracking number may be used by the donor/user to track the        item at various steps of the conversion process. For example, a        donor may input the tracking number at a website via a user        device, and in response, the system (e.g., the backend server)        may look up the item record in the item database and provide the        status of the donation (i.e., the step in the conversion        process) to the user device.    -   The organization identifier may be used to assign the item to a        particular organization, such that the item is associated with        that organization. For example, employees of the organization        may donate items and assign those items to the organization such        that the total amount of proceeds raised by conversion of the        items to settled funds may be tracked and/or credited to the        employees or organization.    -   The unique transaction identifier may be used by the backend        server to associate the identifiers with the particular        transaction for conversion of the item. For example, a donor may        input a description of a particular item to donate. The process        for converting the item to settled funds (i.e., the transaction)        may be assigned a unique transaction identifier. The transaction        identifier may be used by the system to, for example, perform        lookups responsive to status requests. The transaction        identifier may also be used by the system to manage the        transaction by accessing the transaction identifier during the        transaction to update the various identifiers included the item        record.    -   The status identifier identifies the status of the item at        different stages of the transaction. For example, the        transaction identifier may default to a pending state, but later        may be updated by the backend server to an approved state, a        transferred state, a sold state, a completed state, and so        forth, depending upon the stage of the transaction.

In some examples, identifiers are provided by donors. For example, adonor may specify the particular organization and campaign with which toassociate the donation, as well as the frequency of the donation. Inother examples, the identifiers are provided automatically bycode/instructions stored in the system or used by the donors. Forexample, a charity may include a web interface in embedded code on itswebsite with particular campaign and/or designation identifier, suchthat a donor using that website will automatically have the campaign anddesignation identifiers inserted into the item record. In some examples,identifiers are generated on the backend server. For example, thebackend server may generate the unique transaction identifier, status ofthe transaction, and tracking number.

Regardless of item classification, one or more impact statements aregenerated for each item in step 116. The impact statements may beincluded in the item record. The impact statement is based on abenefactor provided metric that converts the value of the item into theamount of assistance the benefactor will receive from the donation. Thesystem (e.g., at the backend server) uses the item's value derived instep 114 to calculate an impact statement. To generate an impactstatement for a particular item, beneficiaries may provide the systemwith metrics that indicate how the item will provide tangible benefitsfor the beneficiary. Examples of benefactor provided metrics are asfollows:

-   -   $8.32 provides one temporary shelter for the beneficiary Red        Cross;    -   $27.32 buys one family a week of food for the beneficiary The        Pantry;    -   $12.00 supplies one pet with food, shelter, and care for the        beneficiary Humane Society;    -   $50.00 will produce 12 finished products for a beneficiary        startup.

Based on these and other provided metrics as well as the donated itemvalue, the system determines impact statement for the item. For example,for an item valued at a $100, the system may generate the followingimpact statements:

-   -   12 temporary shelters;    -   4 families a week of food;    -   8 pet with food, shelter, and care;    -   24 finished products for a startup.

The impact statement may be transmitted to and displayed on the userdevice by the backend server. The backend server may, for example,determine the beneficiary metrics to utilize based on the designationidentifier (which identifies one or more benefactors) associated withthe transaction. The impact statement helps the donor to understand theimportance of the donation and encourages completion of the donationprocess. The impact statement may be provided to the donor upondetermination, after the item is accepted, or after the donationprocess. The impact statement may be written as above, for example, ormay use one or more icons or graphics to represent each portion of thestatement. Impact statements are described in more detail below inreference to FIGS. 3A-3E.

Process 100 is discussed in more detail below for each disposition classin reference to FIGS. 1B-D.

The donation system may generate communications at each step in theconversion process that are transmitted to and/or displayed on the userdevice. For example, a backend server may automatically generate anemail, text, or other communication at each step in the process tonotify a donor as to the status of the donation transaction. Forexample, each time the status identifier is updated, an electroniccommunication to the donor may be triggered and provided as anotification or similar message on the user device.

FIG. 1B illustrates the process of the integrated database system ofFIG. 1A specifically highlighting the steps for handling cashequivalents. For comparison, steps in the process that do not apply toitems classified as cash equivalents have been removed. As discussed inFIG. 1A, donated items are classified as one of three types. Oneparticular type is cash equivalent item 108. Cash equivalent itemsinclude credit or credit card transactions, debit or debit cardtransactions, gift cards with a cash balance, electronic checks such as,for example, any electronic payment such as automatic clearing house(ACH), or payments derived from other billing services such as, forexample, a mobile phone bill.

Once an item is identified as a cash equivalent, the system moves toprocess the item by assigning a value in step 114. Cash equivalents maybe valued both as a gross donation and a net donation amount. Cashequivalent formats, such as credit versus debit, each have unique fees.For example, while all cash equivalent items valued at a $100 U.S. wouldall have the same gross value, each particular cash equivalent itemwould have a different net donation amount based on necessary fees.Additionally, a donor may also specify a frequency of the donation,which may be aggregated for the purpose of generating an impactstatement. An impact statement is then generated for the item in step116. Determining an impact statement is discussed above in reference toFIG. 1A and below in FIGS. 3A-E. For cash equivalents that have afrequency, such as monthly or yearly, the donations may be aggregatedsuch that the impact statement is based upon the aggregate value of thedonation. For example, a donor may specify that a donation item of $100is to re-occur on a monthly basis for one year. The donation may thus beconsidered as a $1,200 item for the purposes of generating an impactstatement.

Next, donor information is collected by the system in step 118. Thisinformation may be used by the donor or the beneficiary, or communicatedto government agencies, if desired. Step 118 can take place at any pointin process 100 but collecting the donor information after the generatingthe impact statement may be helpful in completing of the donationprocess. Collecting donor information may include requiring the donor tofill out a form, scan a check or a credit card, link to a social mediasite, or logging into the system.

Once the identification of the donor is complete, the system accepts theitem in step 122. For cash equivalents, each specific type of assetinvolves different processes based on the item description. Inparticular, for debit and credit transactions, the system makes a chargeto the donor's associated account. For an electronic payment, such as awire transfer, the system sends instructions to the donor's indicatedaccount manager. For gift card transactions, the donor's authorizationis submitted to a gift card processor with electronic instructions totransfer the amount to the system's settlement account. There may beseparate processing engines (e.g., at the backend server) for processingone-time cash equivalent donations and re-occurring cash equivalentdonations. For example, one-time donations may be processed by chargingthe donor's associated account. Re-occurring donations may be processedby charging the donor's account and utilizing a scheduling engine toschedule future account withdrawals according to the frequencyidentifier. The re-occurring donations may share a common scheduleidentifier, but each donation of the re-occurring donations may each beassigned a unique transaction identifier. The scheduling engine mayautomatically process the re-occurring donations based upon the scheduleidentifiers. For example, each day the scheduling engine may determinewhich re-occurring donations are scheduled for that day, andautomatically charge the appropriate donor accounts corresponding to there-occurring donations without requiring additional donor input or otheruser input. These are merely provided as examples and are not intendedto limit the described embodiments.

While cash equivalent items have the perception of being highly liquid,they may actually take several days to several weeks before theircoversion process is complete. For cash equivalents, the backend servermay also set a status identifier corresponding to the transaction to“complete” upon receiving authorization from the donor to transfer thefunds from the donor, without waiting for the funds to be received. Insome examples, the donor's financial institution may suspendtransferring funds to the beneficiary until the institution's settlementprocess is complete. In this case, the system may float the funds to thebeneficiary before the transaction is actually settled by the financialinstitution.

The acceptance step 122 completes the necessary data to providesubstantive communications to the donor, the beneficiary, and anynecessary reporting agencies. The system then proceeds to communicateany information about the transaction, which is discussed in more detailbelow, in reference to FIG. 1E.

FIG. 1C illustrates the process of the integrated database system ofFIG. 1A specifically highlighting the process for handling brokeredfixed asset items. For comparison, steps not required in processingbrokered fixed asset items have been removed. As discussed in FIG. 1A,donated items are classified as one of three types. One particular typeis brokered fixed assets 110. Brokered fixed assets include automobiles,boats, motorcycles, recreational vehicles, electronic devices or virtualcurrency. This list is provided only as an example and is not meant tobe limiting.

Once an item is classified as a brokered fixed asset, a liquidator bidis generated in step 111. In some examples, the liquidator bid isreferred to as a value assessment. The system (e.g., the backend server)may set the status identifier to “pending” for the transaction whilewaiting for the liquidator bid. To generate a liquidator bid, thebackend server may send a request to a liquidator, which in someexamples is a retail network or an auction house. The request may besent either automatically upon receiving the description of the item, orbased on input of a user of the backend server. For example, if thebrokered fixed asset is an automobile, the backend server may comparemileage and model year with pre-configured thresholds. If the vehicleexceeds one or both thresholds, the request may be sent to an auctionhouse, otherwise the request may be sent to the retail network (e.g., anetwork of automobile dealers). In another example, a user of thebackend server may receive a notification regarding the pendingtransaction, and review the brokered fixed asset to make a manualdetermination regarding whether to send the request to the auction houseor the retail network. In addition, the backend server may specify aminimum acceptable bid that is sent to the auction house. In someexamples, the minimum bid is set by a user of the backend system. Inother examples, the backend system queries one or more database todetermine an appropriate minimum bid based on the description of theitem (e.g., make, model, mileage, model year, condition and so forth).

Upon receiving the request, the liquidator may examine the descriptionof the item, for example, electronically by matching the descriptionprovided by the donor to a database maintained by the liquidator. Theliquidator may then generate a bid. The bid represents the value theliquidator is willing to pay for the item. Once received, the bid isstored in the item record and used as the base of the item's value. Instep 114, the value of the item may be adjusted based on any requiredfees, such as liquidator fees or fees charged by the donation system.Thus, the item value determined in step 114 is the net value. Uponreceiving a bid from the liquidator, the backend server may set thestatus of the transaction to “approved.”

The system may then determine an impact statement in step 116. Todetermine the impact statement, the system may use either the liquidatorbid or a donor estimated value (provided by the donor) of the item. Asdiscussed above, the impact statement is determined by comparing thevalue against metrics provided by the beneficiary. In particular, abeneficiary may provide the system with metrics detailing the cost ofproviding a unit of service in order for the system to calculate how thedonor's item will provide benefits for the beneficiary. For example,Meals on Wheel is able to deliver a senior one meal of prepared food for$7.00. The unit is $7.00/meal. With this information, the system maythen determine the total impact for the donated item. In other words,using the above metrics, a $700 value would provide an impact statementsuch as:

-   -   “Your donation can be converted to 100 warm meals delivered to        seniors or hospice care patients.”    -   “You donated computer will provide a home-bound senior one year        of warm meals delivered to their residence.”

Determining an impact statement based on an item's value is discussedabove in reference to FIG. 1A and FIGS. 3A-E.

Next, donor information is collected by the system in step 118. Thisinformation may be used by the donor or the beneficiary, or communicatedto government agencies, if desired. Step 118 can take place at any pointin process 100 but collecting the donor information after the generatingthe impact statement may be helpful in completing of the donationprocess. Collecting donor information may include requiring the donor tofill out a form, scan a check or a credit card, link to a social mediasite, or logging into the system.

Once the donor identification is complete, the system moves to acceptthe item in step 122. As part of the acceptance process, the systemcommunicates with the donor and beneficiary about the item's acceptanceas a donation in step 124. More specifically, the system communicates tothe donor requirements for transfer of title to the liquidator. Thiscommunication may include packing and shipping instructions and ashipping label.

To complete the donation process, the donor then transfers title andpossession of the item to the liquidator in step 128. If the systemprepared packing and shipping instructions, the donor can simply usethose to transfer the item to the liquidator. Upon receiving the item,the liquidator may communicate with the backend server to notify thebackend server that the item has been received. The backend server maythen set the status of the transaction to “transferred.” Once theliquidator receives the item, it converts the item to funds to donate tothe beneficiary in step 126. For example, the liquidator may sell theitem to a buyer. The funds are then transferred to the system to settlethe funds in step 130 and 132. Once the liquidator has received fundsfor the item, the liquidator may communicate with the backend server tonotify the backend server that the item is sold. The backend server maythen set the status of the transaction to “sold.” While settlementusually occurs with transfer of funds, in some cases, fund transfer mayoccur after the settlement or the system may anticipate the funds thatthe liquidator will transfer and advance the amount to the benefactorbefore settlement. Once the liquidator transfers the funds to thebenefactor, the backend server may then set the status of thetransaction to “complete.” The system may then generate a 1098-C form,which is transmitted electronically (e.g., email, uploaded to thedonor's account, and so forth) and/or mailed.

FIG. 1D illustrates the process of the integrated donation system ofFIG. 1A specifically highlighting the process for handling leadgeneration fixed assets. For comparison, steps not needed for processinglead generated fixed assets have been removed. As discussed in FIG. 1A,donated items are classified as one of three types. One particular typeis lead generation fixed assets 112. Lead generation fixed assetsdifferent from brokered fixed assets it is difficult for electronicliquidators to appropriately value lead generation fixed assets. Leadgeneration fix assets include real estate, business interest,securities, insurance, jewelry, commodity, and inventory. It may alsoinclude other assets associated with brokered fixed assets that areequally difficult to electronically value. For example, an automobilewould normally be a brokered fixed asset but a classic automobile may beclassified as lead generation fixed asset due to its uniqueness and thedifficulty in identifying a market or resale potential.

Once an item is identified as a lead generation fixed asset, the systemwill proceed to determine a donor estimated value in step 113. For leadgeneration fixed assets, item valuation may be time consuming. In orderto quickly process the asset and covert it to an amount, thereforeencouraging donation, the system seeks a value for the item from thedonor which is then stored in the item record.

In some examples, the item description may be reviewed by another user(e.g., via the backend server) to determine whether the item is approvedfor conversion to settled funds for donation. In some embodiments, thedescription examination and evaluation would be done automatically byelectronically matching the description provided by the donor to aproduct database either local or remote from the system. For example,the item description may be parsed to identify keywords. The keywordsfrom the item description may be compared with approved keywords (e.g.,a whitelist) or non-approved keywords (e.g., a blacklist) in the productdatabase. If the item is not approved for donation, the donor may benotified and the transaction aborted.

Once the value is entered by the donor (and the item is approved fordonation, if applicable), an impact statement is determined in step 116.As discussed above, the impact statement is determined by comparing avalue against metrics provided by the beneficiary. For lead generationfixed assets, the system does not rely on a third-party bid fordetermining the value that is used in determining the impact statement.Instead, the system uses the donor estimated value. Determining animpact statement based on an item's value is discussed above inreference to FIG. 1A and FIGS. 3A-E.

Next, donor information is collected by the system in step 118. Thisinformation may be used by the donor or the beneficiary, or communicatedto government agencies, if desired. Step 118 can take place at any pointin process 100 but collecting the donor information after the generatingthe impact statement may be helpful in completing of the donationprocess. Collecting donor information may include requiring the donor tofill out a form, scan a check or a credit card, link to a social mediasite, or logging into the system.

Once the donor information is obtained, the system sends a referral fora bid to a system that retrieves bids from potential buyers in step 120.The system (e.g., the backend server) may set the status identifier to“pending” for the transaction while waiting for bids. The potentialbuyer can examine the description of the item and take any needed actionto identify the value of the item. In some embodiments, the descriptionexamination and evaluation by the potential buyer would be doneelectronically by matching the description provided by the donor to adatabase either local or remote from the system. The buyer may thenprovide a bid to the system (e.g., the backend system and/or donorsystem) which is used to establish a value for the item. This value mayalso be stored in the item record. The bid offer may provide aninstantaneous response from the donor or be delayed in an extendedperiod of value determination and negotiation. Upon receiving a bid froma buyer or acceptance of the bid from the donor, the backend server mayset the status of the transaction to “approved.”

Once the final bid is determined, the buyer accepts the item and thesystem records the acceptance in step 122. The system then communicatesto the donor the requirements for transferring title of the item to theliquidator/buyer in step 124. This communication is highly dependent onthe item. For items that can be shipped, the system may include packingand shipping instructions and a shipping label. Additionally, the systemmay notify the benefactor of the donation and the amount of funds thatwill be transferred to the benefactor.

To complete the donation process, the donor may then transfer title (ifrequired, and possession of the item to the liquidator/buyer in step128. If the system prepared packing and shipping instructions, the donorcan simply use those to transfer the item to the liquidator. Once theliquidator/buyer receives the item, the backend server may then set thestatus of the transaction to “transferred.” The liquidator/buyer maythen provide funds for the item that are then donated to the beneficiaryin step 126. Upon receiving funds for the item, the backend server maythen set the status of the transaction to “sold.” The funds are thentransferred to the system to settle the funds in step 130 and 132. Oncethe funds are settled, the backend server may set the status of thetransaction to “complete.” While settlement usually occurs with transferof funds, in some cases, fund transfer may occur after the settlement orthe system may anticipate the funds that the liquidator/buyer willtransfer and advance the amount to the benefactor before settlement.

FIG. 1E illustrates expanded features of the process of the integrateddatabase system shown in FIG. 1A specifically directed to communicationwith parties to the transaction. In particular, acceptance in step 122,no matter the item's classification, completes the necessary data toprovide substantive communications to donor, the beneficiary, or andnecessary reporting agencies. Once acceptance occurs, the system mayproceed with a number of communication related steps. Communication maybe in the form of an on-screen representation, electronic messaging,social media postings, or even a paper format.

For example, in step 134, the system provides a thank you message thatincludes an impact statement to the donor. The impact statement may bean automatically generated written statement, a graphical representationof the impact, or a combination of both. This communication may alsosuggest additional items from the same or different classes that canalso be donated. This suggestion may be generated, in part, based on thebeneficiary's, the donor's, or other donors' donation history in step144.

For items that require shipment to be converted to funds, such as somebrokered fixed assets and lead generation fixed assets, shipping labelsand instructions may be communicated in step 136. These may be printedat the system or communicated to the donor's system to print at thedonor's request.

In some cases, organizations or agencies may be notified of the donationin step 138. For example, donation information may need to becommunicated to government agencies for filings such as taxes, titletransfers. Other non-government entities may need to be notified forsecurities or corporate interest reporting.

In addition to the reporting in step 138, details of the transaction mayalso be communicated to the benefactor in step 140. This communicationmay also include details about the system's process, timing of theitem's conversion into actual funds, settlement, and anticipated timingof fund transfers. Finally, after the item is converted, physicallytransferred, or settled, the funds are transferred to the benefactor andthe benefactor receives a communication that payment is complete in step142.

The process described above in FIGS. 1A-1E are merely example embodimentand are not intended to limit the types of assets or the process bywhich assets may be converted into cash for donation to a benefactor.

FIG. 2 illustrates a process 200 for classifying an item to determine aparticular processing path within the integrated donation systemdescribed in FIGS. 1A-E. As discussed above, the integrated databasesystem is designed to process at least three types of asset classes—cashequivalents 108, brokered fixed assets 110, and lead generation fixedassets 112. In some embodiments, once the system receives itemdescription from the donor, the item is classified by comparing thedescription against a product database either local or remote to thesystem.

First, the item is compared against known cash equivalents in theproduct database. Known cash equivalents include debit or debit cardtransactions, credit or credit card transactions, gift cards with a cashbalance, electronic checks including any electronic payment such asautomatic clearing house (ACH), and payments derived from otherbillings, such as a mobile phone bill. If the item meets any of theknown cash equivalents already described in the product database, theitem may be classified and processed by the system as a cash equivalent.Although some items like gift cards may meet the description of cashequivalents, they may require reclassified to brokered fixed assets ifconverting the item to funds requires processing through a broker orliquidator.

Next, the item is compared against known brokered fixed assets in theproduct database. Brokered fixed assets are those assets that areefficiently converted to funds through an automated or partiallyautomated process by a third-party vendor contracted to provide instantbids on a group of pre-determined items. Known brokered fixed assets mayinclude, for example, automobiles, boats, motorcycles, recreationalvehicles, electronic devices, and virtual currency. The benefit withclassifying an item as a brokered fixed asset is that the system canestablish an instant value for the item in order to then calculate animpact statement.

Finally, items that do not fall into either the cash equivalent orbrokered fixed asset classifications are classified by the system aslead generation fixed assets. Lead generation fixed assets may include,for example, real estate, business interest, securities, insurance,jewelry, commodities, and inventory. Generally speaking, though, leadgeneration fixed assets are different than brokered fixed assets becausethe system is unable to quickly obtain a third-party valuation. This maybe due any number of reasons including, for example, governmentregulations, asset complexity, poor liquidity, rarity, etc. Despitethese valuation challenges, though, the system continues the donationprocess by obtaining an initial value for the item from the donor.

FIG. 3A illustrates the flow of data and processes within and between adonor system 310, a liquidator system 330 and a charity system 320.

The process begins by at 340 by displaying an introductory message at adonor system 310. Typically, the introductory message is a web pageaccessible via the Internet or another type of message deliverable viaan electronic medium. The message may explain the goals of a charity,the successes of the receiving institution, the global impact, orspecific impacts to individuals or groups. Additionally, it may bedesirable to quantitatively demonstrate how the user's anticipateddonation would impact the individuals served by the charity.Accordingly, the introductory message 340 may also include anexplanation of the outcome of the potential donation, display imagesshowing the outcome of the donation, basic instructions to complete theform, pop-up detailed help, audio files, and/or video files.

Following the directions of the introductory message 340, the potentialdonor enters an asset description in step 355 to begin the process ofreceiving an individualized impact statement in step 365. In anembodiment, instead of using classification or categories, thedescription results in a specific identification of the asset to bedonated.

For example, entering the specific asset description can be done byusing a number of methods further detailed in FIG. 3B. Turning brieflyto FIG. 3B, in one preferred embodiment, the user enters an alphanumericasset description such “Aldo 52 LCD TV.” This may be done in severalways including, for example, typing a description 356 into the userinterface, selecting a specific asset from a drop down list 358,entering a specific item index 358, or another entry method such asusing a voice recording 359. A combination of entry methods may also beused. For instance, a user could begin typing “ALD” and be provided aninstantaneous drop down list 358 of selections, such as:

-   -   Aldo 30 LED Television    -   Aldo 32 LCD Television    -   Aldo 32 LCD Monitor    -   Aldo 40 Monitor with Antenna    -   Aldo 52 LCD Television

The prospective user would then select the item from the resulting dropdown list 358.

In another embodiment, a user could enter an asset description bysupplying an index 357 to the interface such as a keyed product serialnumber or a scanned barcode. The resulting key may be matched against afile or database entry within the donor system 310 or the liquidatorsystem 330. In yet another embodiment, the donor system 310 could createa voice file 359 from the donor. The voice file 359 may be translated totext by the operating system, translated into text by the donor system310 or the liquidator system 130.

By way of example, the process illustrated in FIG. 3B may be carried outas follows: The potential donor enters a description which is thentransmitted to the liquidator system 330 to match the description 355 toan item record in a database. In the example of FIG. 3B, the user maytype “Aldo 52 LCD TV” in the donor system 310 which would then betransmitted to the liquidator system 330 responsible for matching thedescription to the item record and returning a similar but uniformdescription such as “Aldo LCD Television 52 in.” In the case of enteringthe asset description 355 using an index 357 the consumer would key orscan a code (e.g., “12345-67890”) in the donor system 310 that is thentransmitted to liquidator system 330 and matched to an item record thatcarries the key or code. In the third example, a user may select“ePhone” from a drop down list 358, then select “2024” model and “X”submodel designation. This may be done within a single drop down list ormultiple hierarchical drop down lists. The resulting description of“ePhone: 2024: X” may then be transmitted to the liquidator system 330to match the description against the item record resulting in thedescription of “2024 ePhone X-XM.” A final example would record theuser's voice into a voice recording file 359 within the donor system 310and transmit either the translated text or the voice file 359 itself toliquidator system 330. The resulting voice or text may then be matchedto an item record.

Returning to FIG. 3A, once the description has been matched to the itemrecord in step 373, the liquidator system 330 retrieves an associatedbid amount from item record in step 374. The bid amount may be stored inthe item record, calculated based on information stored in the itemrecord, or retrieved from a third party and then matched to thedescription in item record. The bid may include additional informationsuch as, for example, a transaction identifier, the asset description,and a bid amount. The bid may then be stored in a bid manager databasein step 378.

The bid amount may then be transmitted to the donor system 310 in orderto prepare an impact statement. To prepare the impact statement, the bidamount is compared to an impact metric in step 360 which can be storedon the donor system 310. The impact metric may include, for example, thecost of delivering a single service or product to the entity orindividuals served. For instance:

-   -   1 pair of shoes: $3.19    -   1 day of meals: $0.78    -   1 semester of job training: $448.00    -   1 laptop with software: $249    -   30 days of fresh water: $12.49    -   1 campaign stop: $700.00

As an example of comparing an impact statement to a bid amount, if thebid amount 74 for a particular asset is $1,400.00, the above exampleimpact metrics would result in the following impact statements:

-   -   439 pairs of shoes, or    -   1,795 days of meals, or    -   3 semesters of job training, or    -   6 laptops with software, or    -   9 years, and 4 months of fresh water, or    -   2 campaign stops.

In step 365, the impact statement can be displayed to the user at thedonor system 310 to encourage the user make a donation. If the useraccepts the bid amount in step 376, the systems may then begin theprocesses for collecting the asset and distributing the funds to thecharity. To accept the bid amount in step 376, the donor may be shownthe actual bid amount or just the impact statement. The user may accept,or approve, either the bid amount or the impact statement. The user mayalso be shown multiple impact statements for which the user may selectone or more depending on the bid amount and the asset's value.

Upon the user accepting one or more bid amounts or impact statements,the donor system 310 transmits the acceptance to a bid manager in theliquidator system 330 where it is received and stored in a database instep 378. The liquidator system 330 may then generate a shipping labelin step 380. In one embodiment, the shipping label may be transmitted tothe donor system 310 for printing in step 382. Step 382 alsocontemplates that the shipping label may be transmitted to the user viaother means such as email or another electronic message. The shippinglabel may also be shipped to the user where the shipment may includepacking and shipping materials to assist the user in the efficientdonation of the asset.

In the last step of FIG. 3A, the liquidator system 330 transfers fundsto the charity system 320. As used herein, the charity system 320 mayinclude a server managed by a particular charity, a server managed bythird-party on behalf of the charity, a banking institution acting as areceiver for a charity, or a third-party to convert the funds into thepromised impact. Funds that can be transmitted to the charity mayinclude cash, cash equivalents, points, promises, and/or goods orservices.

FIG. 3C illustrates an example exchange of data and assets between auser, a liquidator system 330, and a charity system 320. Beforeexamining the role for the manager of the consumer-facing donor system310, it is helpful to understand the fundamental exchanges of data andassets. The process begins by a user supplying a description of theasset in step 355. The description must be detailed enough for aliquidator system 330 to provide a committed bid amount. The descriptionmay include a manually typed description; an index such as a serialnumber or scanned barcode; a drop down list; a voice file; or anycombination thereof.

A user, as used herein, may include any individual, business,organization, entity, computer system and/or the like attempting todonate assets to another individual, charity, political campaign,business, organization, entity, or computer system. A charity, as usedherein, comprises any individual, non-profit, for-profit, business,organization, political campaign, lobbyist, entity, computer systemand/or the like.

Once the asset description is received, the liquidator system 330converts the description into a bid amount and transmits the bid amountto the donor system 310 in step 374. The bid amount is presented to theuser as an impact statement. The user may then accept the bid amount byapproving either the bid amount or the impact statement, whereby theacceptance is transmitted to the liquidator system 330 in step 376. Instep 380, after the liquidator system 330 receives the accepted bid, theliquidator system 330 then provides shipping instructions to the uservia donor system 310. The shipping instructions can include, forexample, a shipping label, packing instructions, and/or drop-off ordelivery information. The shipping instructions may also include atransaction identifier, identification of the asset(s) to be shipped,the name and address of the shipper, name and destination for theasset(s) to be shipped, payment consideration for the shipping costs,and/or information about the impact of the asset donation.

At any time after the bid is accepted in step 376, the liquidator system330 may provide funds consisting some portion of the bid amount to thecharity system 320 in step 390.

FIG. 3D illustrates the charity system 320 acting as the facilitator ofthe relationship between the donor system 310 and the liquidator system330. In this embodiment, the charity system 320 may receive the assetdescription from the donor system 310 and transmit the description tothe liquidator system 330 in step 355. The liquidator system 330 maythen generate a bid based on the asset description that includes a bidamount. The bid amount can then be transmitted to the charity system 320in step 374 to be converted to an impact statement. The impact statementgenerated from the bid amount may then be transmitted to the donorsystem 310 in step 365.

The impact statement and/or the bid amount may be presented to the uservia a web page or similar at the donor system 310. The user may thenaccept the bid amount or impact statement at step 376 by selecting anacceptance option in the web page. The user's acceptance is thentransmitted to the liquidator system 330 via the charity system 320. Theliquidator system 330 may then transmit shipping information comprisingat least a shipping label to the donation system 310 via the charitysystem 320 in step 380. The transmission to donor system 310 may be viaan electronic message including, for example, email or web notification,or another means such as regular mail with additional shippingmaterials.

In step 350, the user may then send the asset to a party designated bythe liquidator system 330 on the provided shipping information. Any timeafter the liquidator system 330 receives the user's acceptance of thebid amount or impact statement in step 376, the liquidator system 330would forward all or a portion of the bid amount, as funds to thecharity system 320 in step 390.

FIG. 3E illustrating the use an embodiment where a third-party 340manages the communications between the donor system 310 and theliquidator system 330 and the charity system 320. In contrast to FIG.3D, the third-party manager system 340 acts a representative for thecharity system 320 and may give the appearance to a user that the donorsystem 310 is interacting with the charity system 320 directly. Thethird-party manager system 340 may also appear to the donor system 310as representing a group of charities systems 320 and displaying theimpact from multiple charities in one or more impact statements.

In step 355, the donor system 310 electronically supplies an assetdescription to the third-party system 340 which is electronicallyrelayed to the liquidator system 330. The liquidator system 330 thenmatches the asset description to an item record stored in a database andgenerates a bid which comprises at least a bid amount in step 374. Thethird-party system 340 then compares the bid amount to an impact metricand generates an impact statement in step 365, which is then transmittedto the donor system 310 for display. The user, via donor system 310, maythen accept the impact statement via a command entered in a userinterface on donor system 310. The user's acceptance may then betransmitted to the liquidator system 330 via the third-party managersystem 340 in step 376. In step 377, the liquidator system 330 maycommunicate to the third-party system 340 shipping information tofacilitate the third-party manager 340 to generate a shipping label. Theshipping label may then be transmitted to the donor system 310 in step380 for the user to print or otherwise access. The user may then shipthe asset to according to the shipping label in step 350. At any pointafter the user's acceptance of the impact statement is received, theliquidator system may transmit funds consisting of at least a portion ofthe bid amount to the charity system 320.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example computer system 400 that may be used tocarry out the process of the integrated database system described inFIGS. 1A-E, 2, and 3A-E. System 400 includes an electronic marketplacesystem 410, a buyer system 430, and a donor system 440. These systemsare connected via a network 420 such as, for example, the Internet.Electronic marketplace 410 may be the system for implementing thevarious aspects of the systems described in FIGS. 1A-E, 2, and 3A-E, andmay also be referred to as a backend server. Marketplace 410 includes aone or more computer processors 414, memory 416, and may include adatabase 412 for storing item classification information. Buyer system430 and donor system 440 include and number of computer devices such as,for example, mobile computers, personal computers, personal digitalassistants, smart phones, tablets, laptops, wearable computers,ultra-mobile personal computers, enterprise digital assistants,electronic book readers, minicomputers, mainframes, servers,workstations, minicomputers, microcomputers, desktop computer, clonesand terminals.

In some embodiments, to conduct the process described in FIGS. 1A-E and2, the donor begins by transmitting personal data via donor system 440to the electronic marketplace 410 to establish an account. The accountmay include information about the donor such as name, address,government identification information, preferred benefactors, donationhistory, and item search history. This list is not exclusive and is notintended to limit the embodiments.

The buyer may also transmit personal information via buyer system 430 tocreate an account. The buyer's information may include informationlisted above for a donor's account as well as additional informationsuch as, for example, shipping information and payment information. Asdiscussed above in FIGS. 1C-D, when a donor proceeds with a transactionat the electronic marketplace 410 that requires a buyer, the buyer mayreceive notification of the item for sale via buyer system 430. In someembodiments, the buyer may provide the system with a wish list (e.g., alist of assets or types of assets) so that the buyer is notified onlyabout items that the buyer is interested in. In this case, the buyerwill only be notified when a broker fixed asset or lead generation fixedasset matching its requirements is available for purchase. From thebuyer system 430, the buyer can examine the description of items. In apreferred embodiment, the description examination is done electronicallyat the buyer system 430 by matching the description generated by thedonor to a database local or remote to buyer system 430. The buyer maythen purchase the item, whereby the necessary transaction information istransmitted from buyer system 430 to the electronic marketplace 410.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example process 500 between donor system 570,buyer system 575, and benefactor system 580. As described above inreference to FIGS. 1A-E, 2, and 4 these process steps may take place atan electronic marketplace system.

Process 500 begins in step 510. Step 510 includes soliciting assetdonations from a donor via donor system 570. Typically, a web pageassociated with a benefactor may explain the goals of the benefactor,their successes, the global impact, or specific impacts to individualsserved. In some embodiments, in order to invite a potential donor tomake a donation, an introductory message is displayed invitingparticipation. The message would alternatively or collectively explainthe outcome of the donation, display images showing the resulting impactof the donation (e.g., an impact statement), basic instructions tocomplete the form, pop-up detailed help, audio files, video files, orother instructional material.

Following the solicitation step 510, the potential donor enters an assetdescription to begin the process of receiving an individualized impactstatement in step 520. Entering of the specific item description can beperformed using a number of methods discussed above. For example, thedonor may enter an alphanumeric asset description such as “See 52 LCDTV.” This may be done through donor system 570 by typing a description,selecting a specific asset from a drop down list, or a combination ofboth a keyed description and a drop down list. In other words, a donormay begin typing “See” and be provided an instantaneous drop down listof selections, such as:

-   -   See 30 LED Television    -   See 32 LCD Television    -   See 32 LCD Monitor    -   See 40 Monitor with Antenna    -   See 52 LCD Television

The prospective donor would then select a particular item from theresulting search list. Alternatively, the item description may beentered using an index that could be keyed-in or scanned such as a UPC.

Once entered, the item description is transmitted to the buyer system575 and matched to a description provided by the buyer system 575. Thebuyer system 575 may then retrieve an associated bid amount in step 530.The bid amount includes a transaction identifier, an asset description,an amount or value. The bid amount is transmitted to the donor system570 to prepare an impact statement to display to the prospective donor.The impact statement is then generated and can be displayed to theperspective donor in step 540 to encourage the prospective donor tocontinue with the asset donation. If the prospective donor accepts thebid amount in step 540. In some embodiments, the donor may not be shownthe actual bid amount. Instead, the donor may accept, or approve, bidbased only on the impact statement. In this case, the donor may selectmultiple impact statements or only a single impact statement.

Once the bid amount is accepted, the acceptance is transferred to thebuyer system 575 and stored in step 545. In response to the bidacceptance, the buyer system 575 may generate shipping information instep 550 for those assets that can be shipped. The shipping informationmay then be transmitted to the donor system 570 for printing by thedonor in step 555. The buyer system 575 may also email the shippinginformation to the donor or print and then ship the information to thedonor. The shipping information may include packing and shippingmaterials to assist in the efficient transfer of the item.

Finally, the buyer system 575 transfers funds to the benefactor system580 in step 560. The benefactor system 580 may be a server managed by abenefactor, a server managed by a third-party on behalf of thebenefactor, a banking institution designated to receive the funds, or athird-party designated to convert the funds into the promised impact.

Although the present disclosure and its advantages have been describedin detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutionsand alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit andscope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, thescope of the present application is not intended to be limited to theparticular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, compositionof matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. Asone of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from thedisclosure, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter,means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developedthat perform substantially the same function or achieve substantiallythe same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may beutilized according to the present disclosure. Accordingly, the appendedclaims are intended to include within their scope such processes,machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.

In the foregoing description, and the following claims, method stepsand/or actions are described in a particular order for the purposes ofillustration. It should be appreciated that in alternate embodiments,the method steps and/or actions may be performed in a different orderthan that described. Additionally, the methods described above may beembodied in machine-executable instructions stored on one or moremachine-readable mediums, such as disk drives, thumb drives or CD-ROMs.The instructions may be used to cause the machine (e.g., computerprocessor) programmed with the instructions to perform the method.Alternatively, the methods may be performed by a combination of hardwareand software. While illustrative and presently preferred embodimentshave been described in detail herein, it is to be understood that theinventive concepts may be otherwise variously embodied and employed, andthat the appended claims are intended to be construed to include suchvariations, except as limited by the prior art.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic market place computer system forfacilitating donation of settled funds to at least one of a plurality ofbenefactors, comprising: a non-transitory memory unit for storing aproduct database and an item database, wherein the product databaseincluding a plurality of product records that each correspond to aproduct description and includes a unique product identifier, andwherein the item database includes a plurality of item records that eachcorrespond to an item to be converted into settled funds and includes anitem description, a unique product identifier, a disposition class, andan item value; at least one computer processor electronically coupled tothe memory, the processor configured to carry out the followingoperations stored as instructions in the memory: receive an itemdescription from a donor user device that describes an item that a donorintends to convert to settled funds; automatically search a productdatabase for a product record that corresponds to the item description,wherein the product record includes at least a unique product identifierand a disposition class that indicates a particular method forconverting the item to settled funds; automatically generate an itemrecord in the item database upon receiving the item description, theitem record including a unique transaction identifier, a statusidentifier, and a designation identifier, wherein the status identifieris automatically initialized to a first status, and wherein thedesignation identifier corresponds to a particular unique benefactoridentifier; when the disposition class indicates a cash-equivalentclass: determine a value and a cash-type for the item based at least ondata derived from the item record and corresponding product record;provide the value to the donor device in a way such that it can beautomatically displayed to the donor; upon receiving an acceptancecommand from the donor via the donor device, automatically process atransaction to transfer at least part of the monetary amount indicatedby the value from the donor to a benefactor, wherein the type oftransaction utilized is based on the cash-type; when disposition classindicates a brokered fixed asset or a lead-generation fixed asset:determine a value and a liquidator for the item based at least on dataderived from the item record and the corresponding product record;provide the value to the donor device in a way such that it can beautomatically displayed to the donor; upon receiving an acceptancecommand from the donor via the donor device, automatically provideliquidation details to the donor via the donor device, the liquidationdetails providing instructions to the donor on how to transfer the itemto the liquidator; upon notification from the liquidator that the itemhas been transferred, process a transaction to transfer at least part ofthe monetary amount indicated by the value to the particular benefactor;and receive at least a part of the monetary amount from the liquidator;and after processing the transaction, update the status identifier to asecond status value.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein determining thevalue for the disposition class of brokered fixed assets includesoperations further comprising: updating the status identifier to a thirdstatus value; after updating the status identifier to the third status,automatically providing, via a computer network, the item description toone or more electronic liquidator systems; receiving, via the computernetwork, a bid amount from the one or more electronic liquidatorsystems, wherein the bid amount is designated as the value; and afterreceiving the bid amount, storing the bid amount in the item record andupdating the status identifier to a fourth status value.
 3. The systemof claim 1, wherein when the disposition class indicates acash-equivalent asset, the operations further comprise: automaticallystoring a frequency value in the item record wherein the frequency valueindicates that the item is a re-occurring donation; and based on thefrequency value, automatically generating a donation schedule thatindicates when to process one or more re-occurring transactions for atleast a part of the value; and automatically storing the donationschedule in the item record; and automatically triggering the processingof each re-occurring transaction based on the donation schedule.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the operations for determining the value fora disposition class of either cash-equivalent asset or brokered fixedasset further comprise receiving an estimated value for the item fromthe donor via the donor device, and storing the estimated value as thevalue.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein when the disposition classindicates a cash-equivalent asset, the processing the transactionincludes withdrawing at least part of the monetary amount of the valuefrom a financial account associated with the donor.
 6. The system ofclaim 1, wherein when the disposition class indicates a brokered fixedasset or a lead-generation fixed asset and keywords in the itemdescription correspond to at least one of a vehicle mileage and avehicle model year, the operations for determining the value furthercomprise selecting either an auction house liquidator or a retailnetwork liquidator based on at least one of the vehicle mileage and thevehicle model year.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations forproviding the value to the donor device for all disposition classesincludes: generating one or more impact statements, wherein the impactstatements are based on the value and one or metrics provided by one ormore benefactors; and providing the one or more impact statements to thedonor device.
 8. A computer-implemented method for using a databasesystem for converting a real-world asset to settled funds, the methodcomprising: receiving, by at least one computer processor, an itemdescription of an item from a donor device; automatically generating, inan item database, an item record that includes a data structure definingone or more data fields including the description of the item, a uniquetransaction identifier, a status identifier, and a designationidentifier, wherein the status identifier indicates one or more of thefollowing statuses during a transaction to donate the item: the item isawaiting one or more bids, the one or more bids have been received forthe item, the item has been transferred from the donor, funds have beenreceived for the item, and the transaction has been completed, andwherein the designation identifier corresponds to one or morebenefactors; searching, by at least one computer processor, a productdatabase for a product record that corresponds to the item description,wherein the record includes a data structure with fields including andisposition class that indicates a particular method for converting theitem to settled funds; when the disposition class indicates acash-equivalent asset: automatically determine, by at least one computerprocessor, a value and a cash-type corresponding to the item; provide,by at least one computer processor, the value to the donor device in away such that it can be automatically displayed to the donor; uponreceiving an acceptance command from the donor via the donor device,automatically process, by at least one computer processor, a transactionto transfer at least part of a monetary amount indicated by the value tothe benefactor, wherein the type of transaction utilized is based on thecash-type; when the disposition class indicates a brokered fixed assetor a lead-generation asset: determine, by at least one computerprocessor, a value and a liquidator for the item based at least on dataderived from the item record and the product record; provide, by atleast one computer processor, the value to the donor device in a waysuch that it can be automatically displayed to the donor; upon receivingan acceptance command from the donor via the donor device, automaticallyprovide, by at least one computer processor, liquidation details to thedonor via the donor device, the liquidation details providinginstructions to the donor on how to transfer the item to the liquidator;upon notification from the liquidator that the item has beentransferred, process, by at least one computer processor, a transactionto transfer at least part of the monetary amount indicated by the valueto the particular benefactor; and receive, by at least one computerprocessor, at least a part of the monetary amount from the liquidator;and updating, by at least one computer processor, the status identifierto indicate that the transaction has been completed.
 9. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising: when the disposition class indicates acash-equivalent asset: storing, by at least one computer processor, afrequency value in the item record, wherein the frequency valueindicates that the item is a re-occurring donation; based on thefrequency value, generating a donation schedule that indicates when toprocess one or more re-occurring transactions for at least part of thevalue; and automatically storing the donation schedule in the itemrecord; and automatically triggering the processing of each re-occurringtransaction based on the donation schedule.
 10. The method of claim 8,wherein when the disposition class indicates a brokered fixed asset,determining the value comprises: updating, by at least one computerprocessor, the status identifier to indicate that the item is awaiting abid; providing, by at least one computer processor, the item descriptionto one or more electronic liquidator systems; receiving, by at least onecomputer processor, the bid from the one or more electronic liquidatorsystems, wherein the bid is designated as the value; and updating, by atleast one computer processor, the status identifier to indicate that thebid has been received for the item; upon providing liquidation detailsto the donor, automatically updating, by at least one computerprocessor, the status identifier to indicate that the item is beingtransferred from the donor; and upon receiving at least part of themonetary amount from the liquidator, updating the status identifier toindicate that at least a portion of the value has been received for theitem.
 11. The method of claim 8, further comprising: automaticallysending, by at least one computer processor, an electronic communicationto the donor device each time the status identifier is updated.
 12. Themethod of claim 8, wherein when disposition class indicates alead-generation asset, determining the value comprises: receiving, by atleast one computer processor, an estimated value corresponding to theitem from the donor via the donor device; and automatically updating theitem record such that the estimated value is designated as the value.13. The method of claim 10, further comprising: when the assetclassification value indicates a brokered fixed asset: selecting, by atleast one computer processor, based upon one or more keywords in thedescription of the item, either an auction house liquidator or a retailnetwork liquidator, wherein the keywords correspond to at least one of avehicle mileage and a vehicle model year.
 14. The method of claim 10,further comprising: generating, by at least one computer processor, oneor more impact statements, wherein the one or more impact statements arebased on one or metrics provided by one or more benefactors and thevalue; and providing, by at least one computer processor, the one ormore impact statements to the donor device in a way to be displayed tothe donor.
 15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having storedthereon machine-readable instructions executable to cause a machine toperform operations comprising: receiving an item description of an itemfrom a donor device; automatically generating, in an item database, anitem record that includes a data structure defining one or more datafields including the item description, a unique transaction identifier,a status identifier, and a designation identifier, wherein the statusidentifier is updated to indicate one or more of the following statusesduring a transaction to donate the item: the item is awaiting one ormore bids, the one or more bids have been received for the item, theitem has been transferred from the donor, funds have been received forthe item, and the transaction has been completed, and wherein thedesignation identifier corresponds to one or more benefactors; searchinga product database for a product record that corresponds to the itemdescription, wherein the product record includes a data structure withfields including a disposition class that indicates a particular methodfor processing a transaction corresponding to the item; when thedisposition class indicates a cash-equivalent asset: automaticallydetermine a value and a cash-type corresponding to the item; provide thevalue to the donor device in a way such that it can be automaticallydisplayed to the donor; upon receiving an acceptance command from thedonor via the donor device, automatically process a transaction totransfer at least part of a monetary amount indicated by the value tothe benefactor, wherein the type of transaction utilized is based on thecash-type; when disposition class indicates a brokered fixed asset or alead-generation asset: determine a value and a liquidator for the itembased at least on data derived from the item record and the productrecord; provide the value to the donor device in a way such that it canbe automatically displayed to the donor; upon receiving an acceptancecommand from the donor via the donor device, automatically provideliquidation details to the donor via the donor device, the liquidationdetails providing instructions to the donor on how to transfer the itemto the liquidator; upon notification from the liquidator that the itemhas been transferred, process a transaction to transfer at least part ofthe monetary amount indicated by the value to the particular benefactor;and receive at least a part of the monetary amount from the liquidator;and updating the status identifier to indicate that the transaction hasbeen completed.
 16. The medium of claim 15, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: when the disposition class indicates a cash-equivalentasset: storing a frequency value in the item record, wherein thefrequency value indicates that the item is a re-occurring donation;based on the frequency value, generating a donation schedule thatindicates when to process one or more re-occurring transactions for atleast part of the value; and automatically storing the donation schedulein the item record; and automatically triggering the processing of eachre-occurring transaction based on the donation schedule.
 17. The mediumof claim 15, wherein when disposition class indicates a brokered fixedasset, the operation for determining the value further comprises:updating the status identifier to indicate that the item is awaiting abid; providing the item description to one or more electronic liquidatorsystems; receiving the bid from the one or more electronic liquidatorsystems, wherein the bid is designated as the value; and updating thestatus identifier to indicate that the bid has been received for theitem; upon providing liquidation details to the donor, automaticallyupdating the status identifier to indicate that the item is beingtransferred from the donor; and upon receiving at least part of themonetary amount from the liquidator, updating the status identifier toindicate that at least a portion of the value has been received for theitem.
 18. The medium of claim 15, wherein the operations furthercomprise: automatically sending an electronic communication to the donordevice each time the status identifier is updated.
 19. The medium ofclaim 15, wherein when the disposition class indicates a lead-generationasset, the operations for determining the value further comprise:receiving an estimated value corresponding to the item from the donorvia the donor device; and automatically updating the item record suchthat the estimated value is designated as the value.
 20. The medium ofclaim 15, wherein the operations further comprise: generating one ormore impact statements, wherein the one or more impact statements arebased on one or metrics provided by one or more benefactors and thevalue; and providing the one or more impact statements to the donordevice in a way to be displayed to the donor.